Tuesday 31 March 2009

Waiting On Wednesday (11)

Idea taken from Breaking The Spine

The Only Alien On The Planet by Kristen Randle.

New student Ginny is intrigued by the handsome alien in her homeroom. No, this is not a science fiction novel. Smitty, real name Michael is known to his schoolmates as "The Alien" because of his affectless appearance and complete silence. Soon, Ginny and Smitty's longtime protector, Caulder, team up to try and crack his shell. They get much more than they bargain for when they drag him along on old-movie outings; as a none-too-subtle plot device, the first turns out to be The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the second, East of Eden. Smitty walks out of both, for it turns out that he was almost fatally abused by his older brother, who also convinced him that he would die if he spoke to anyone. With the help of Ginny, Caulder and a wise and sympathetic therapist, Smitty emerges from this psychological curse, and he and Ginny even begin a tentative romantic relationship. 

The title kinda fooled me for a second. I thought it was really about science, turned out to be something just as interesting. I wanted to see how these two girls got the boy out of his shelf of pain - it's cool to read on heroines' act right? Also, let's see how long Ginny and Smitty's relationship goes with her friend's crush on the guy. Well, this book would be a perfect one to me if the cover was less tragic. What do you think?

Watch out. An alien will enter our world on Sept 1st.

7 comments:

Erika Powell said...

this does sound really good but the cover is kind of haunting.

prophecygirl said...

It sounds great! I don't know about the cover though...

Diana Dang said...

Sounds... I dunno how to feel to that kind of plot. o-o; It's sounds a bit depressing and I thought it was going to be a sci-fi too! Haha.

Steph Su said...

Hmm, this DOES sound interesting. Ever since reading The Host I've been trying to get into more sci-fi. Thanks for the pick, Thao!

kayerj said...

I didn't even notice the boy's face until you mentioned the cover art. The title totally fools you and the varying hues of blue behind it immiediatly makes one think of the outer reaches of space. Upon reexamination of the cover I picked out the face of a deeply troubled boy. The cover is heart breaking and from your review accurately depicts the story.

nice review

Oh if you really want to read a story about aliens I would also recomend "Host" by Stephanie Meyer.

I also love you "about me"

K said...

Google told me about your entry, and I was happy to read it. I agree so much about the cover - it's really a mis-rep of my attitude toward life in general. So I hope you don't mind, but I went to the publisher with your post, and they are going to change the cover. YAY!! You have power you never knew you had!! And the book isn't, as somebody was afraid it would be, depressing. It's a story about strength and friendship and hope. Thanks for writing about it, Thao!

Thao said...

^ Of course I wouldn't mind it at all. Actually it's really awesome. The readers are always against unsuitable covers so I'm really glad the publisher decided to change it! : )